CN113453905A

CN113453905A - Direct-injection printing of clothing

Info

Publication number: CN113453905A
Application number: CN201980092288.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M·E·萨帕塔; 约瑟·路易斯·巴莱罗·纳瓦索; 拉斐尔·乌拉西亚·波托莱斯
Original assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Current assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2021-09-28
Also published as: EP3883772A1; JP2022521302A; WO2020204888A1; US20220001676A1; EP3883772A4; US11413881B2

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a direct garment injection printer, including: a printing area; a loading zone; and a conveyor for receiving garments and moving them bidirectionally in a transport direction between the printing zone and the loading zone; wherein the printer further comprises a print bar located in the print zone, the print bar extending longitudinally along a width of the print zone and having a plurality of nozzles spanning the width of the print zone.

Description

Direct-injection printing of clothing

Background

Textile printing is an area of technology that is constantly evolving, where ordinary printers are less efficient due to the particularities of textiles. This specificity further increases the complexity of the printing system due to the complexity of handling different sizes, shapes, and materials of such garments when the user intends to print (i.e., deposit printing fluid) directly onto the garment.

In one example, direct injection of clothing (DTG) printing systems will be provided in stores or small and medium sized businesses with space limitations, and therefore, a compact system with modular capabilities may be advantageous.

Drawings

Various example features will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of an example of a direct jet garment printer.

Fig. 2 is a front view of an example of a direct jet garment printer.

Fig. 3 shows a plan view of an example of a direct jet garment printer.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example method of printing a garment using a direct garment injection printer.

Fig. 5 illustrates another example method of printing a garment using a direct garment injection printer.

Detailed Description

In the following description and the annexed drawings, certain illustrative embodiments of a printing device, a printing system, and/or a printer are described. In examples described herein, a "printer" or "printing system" may be a device that prints content on a physical medium (e.g., a textile) with a printing material (e.g., ink or toner). For example, the printer may be a broadside printing device that prints emulsion-based printing fluid on a print medium (such as a print medium having a size of a2 or greater). The physical medium on which the printing is made may be a garment such as, for example, a shirt, a hat, or the like.

Further, a page wide array ("PWA") printing system is a printhead printing system that includes a printhead that spans the entire print zone and may include thousands of nozzles. Thus, PWA printheads have more nozzles than scanning type printheads discussed above. The PWA printhead is formed on an elongated print bar. The print bar is typically oriented orthogonal to the print media path. During operation, the print bar and PWA printhead are stationary, while the print media is fed to the adjacent printhead. PWA printheads print one or more lines at a time as the print media is moved relative to the printhead. This is comparable to the printing of multiple characters at a time that is achievable with scanning type printheads.

The present disclosure relates to a clothing direct injection printer, including:

-a print zone:

-a loading zone:

-a conveyor for receiving the garments and moving them bidirectionally in a transport direction between a printing zone and a loading zone;

wherein the printer further comprises a print bar located in the print zone, the print bar extending longitudinally along the width of the print zone and having a plurality of nozzles spanning the width of the print zone.

In one example, the conveyor includes a printing surface and a spittoon surface (surface) remote from the printing surface. Additionally, the glenoid surface may be capable of being along a width of the print zone. In another implementation, the spittoon surface can extend along the width of the print zone, thereby being a page-wide spittoon.

Further, the print bar may be movable an indexing distance along the width of the print zone. Such indexing distances may help to vary the usage of some nozzles, thereby increasing their durability and improving IQ. In one example, such a graduated distance may be a distance of up to 30% of the chip length within the printbar or 50% of the chip length of the printbar. For a chip of approximately 30mm (1 inch), the indexing distance will be a distance of up to 8mm, in another example up to 13mm, and in yet another embodiment between 8mm and 13 mm.

In another example, the printer may include a post-processing zone adjacent the printing zone and opposite the loading zone, the conveyor moving the garment between the printing zone and the post-processing zone. The post-treatment zone may comprise: at least one of a dye sublimator, a heater, a dryer, a curing device, an unloading station, and/or an overcoat applicator (over applicator).

In an example embodiment, the printer may include a second print bar coupleable to the print bar to provide a second print zone and a second conveyor associated with the second print bar to provide a second loading zone.

Further, disclosed herein is a direct garment injection printing method in a printer including:

-a page wide nozzle array defining a width of the printing zone;

-a conveyor for moving the garment bidirectionally in a direction perpendicular to the width of the printing zone; and

-a controller for controlling the page-wide nozzle array and the conveyor;

the controller is for moving the garment between the loading zone and the printing zone and for ejecting printing fluid onto the garment while the garment is moved along the printing zone while maintaining the nozzles in a stationary position.

In an example of the method, the controller performs the indexing action by moving the nozzle in a direction parallel to the width of the print zone when the garment is outside the print zone.

In another example, the printing zone includes a post-processing zone adjacent to and opposite the loading zone, and the controller may move the garment from the loading zone to the printing zone and from the printing zone to the post-processing zone. Further, the post-treatment zone may include a dye sublimator, a heater, a dryer, a curing device, an unloading station, and/or a topcoat applicator.

Additionally, the printer may include a spittoon associated with the conveyor, and wherein the controller moves the conveyor to position the spittoon beneath the page-wide nozzle array in order to perform the maintenance operation.

The present disclosure also relates to a non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions executable by a controller, the medium storing instructions for controlling a page wide array printer comprising a set of nozzles and a conveyor defining a width of a print zone, wherein the controller is to move a garment between a loading zone and a print zone and to eject printing fluid onto the garment as the garment moves along the print zone while maintaining the nozzles in a stationary position.

Fig. 1 shows an example of a page-wide array printer 1 (e.g. an inkjet printer) for direct printing onto clothing, i.e. a direct garment-jet printer. In general terms, an inkjet printer is a controllable fluid ejection device that ejects drops of printing fluid from a nozzle to form an image on a substrate (e.g., a garment), where such ejection can be achieved by different techniques such as thermal or piezoelectric ejection.

The printer 1 includes a print bar having a plurality of nozzles, e.g., two rows of nozzles, which may be staggered or offset from one another, for example. The nozzles are arranged to eject ink droplets onto the garment as the garment is advanced through the printer device in the direction indicated by arrow T (hereinafter referred to as the "media advance direction", also referred to as the media axis). The printer 1 includes a controller for controlling the operation of the printer apparatus. A direction substantially perpendicular to the medium advance direction will hereinafter be referred to as "width direction of the print zone" and also as pen direction, pen axis, print bar longitudinal direction or print head direction.

In an example, the printer 1 may be provided with a plurality of print heads provided on a print bar. The print heads may be arranged such that their nozzles at least partially overlap in the media advance direction. Each printhead includes nozzles, which may be arranged, for example, in two rows, each row spaced a distance apart, for example, 21.167 microns (one thousand two hundredths of an inch), and the nozzles in the two rows may be staggered from one another by a staggered distance such that successive nozzles in each die are spaced, for example, 21.167 microns (one thousand two hundredths of an inch), 1 micron (micron) being equal to 1 micron (micrometer) or 10 microns (micron)^-6And (4) rice. Note that these dimensions are provided for illustrative purposes only.

Fig. 1 shows a printer 1 comprising a print engine 2 having a print bar 20 mounted therein, the print bar extending in a width direction (Y-axis) to define the width of the print zone of the printer. Additionally, the print engine 2 may include or be connected to a controller that controls the actions of the print engine 2, including defining the nozzle firing frequency of each nozzle within the printbar 20.

The print engine 2 may include a plurality of print bars 20, for example, a plurality of print bars in the media advance direction (T) or a plurality of print bars 20 extending in the width direction. In any case, the maximum distance between the nozzles of the print bar in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the media advance direction (T)) defines the print zone (P)_w) Is measured.

Furthermore, fig. 1 shows a conveyor 3 for moving the garments from the loading zone towards the print engine (i.e. towards the printing zone). Conveyor 3 may be, for example, a tray 32, and tray 32 may include a frame 30 and may be slidably attached to base 31, thereby providing linear movement of a portion of conveyor 3 (e.g., tray 32) along media path direction (T).

The conveyor 3 may include means for securing garments thereto, and in one example, the frame may be attached to the tray 32 by a hinge connection or similar pivotable connection so as to pivot between open and closed positions. In the open position, the user may position the garment on the tray and close the frame to fixedly couple the garment to the tray. In other examples, the conveyor may be provided with other securing mechanisms, such as, for example, clamps or vacuum chambers, to secure other types of garments, such as hats, shirts, textiles, and the like.

In use, a user loads the garments by providing them to the conveyor 3, which may comprise holding means for holding the garments stationary with respect to a portion of the conveyor 3, in particular the tray 32, and then the conveyor 3 will move the garments linearly along the media advance direction (T) towards the printing zone.

The conveyor 3 moves the garment in the media path direction (T) between a loading zone and a printing zone, through which the garment is moved at a substantially constant speed once it reaches the printing zone, while the nozzles of the print bar 20 deposit printing fluid onto the garment. In thatIn the page-wide array configuration, the entire width (P) of the print zone is used_w) Are provided with nozzles, the print bar 20 and thus the nozzles remain in a stationary position during the printing operation, and a part of the printer, i.e. the conveyor 3, will be in motion.

Because print engine 2 can be designed to substantially span the print zone, the page-wide array configuration of the example of fig. 1 provides a more compact design, allowing printer 1 to occupy less space than, for example, a scanning printhead printer that requires a start zone and a stop zone at both sides of the print zone, while maintaining the same print zone width (P)_w)。

Further, the print bar 20 includes nozzles spanning the print bar, with the first and last of the nozzles in the width direction (Y-axis) defining the width (P) of the print zone_w). Depending on the print output characteristics, some nozzles of the print bar 20 may be used less often than others. For example, a user may most often print using a margin of 2.5cm, sometimes less than 2.5 cm. Nozzles located in the 2.5cm margin area are therefore less frequently used and may be more prone to clogging.

Thus, the first mechanism for compensating for this uneven clogging and use of the nozzles may be the so-called indexing movement of the print bar 20. In the indexing movement, the lateral movement of the print bar is performed to ensure that the nozzles, which are not normally used, perform a printing operation, i.e. a movement in the width direction of the print zone is performed by the print bar 10. This movement is performed without printing the garment, for example, it may be performed when the conveyor 3 positions the garment outside the printing zone, or in another example, the garment is within the printing zone but no nozzles eject printing fluid towards the garment.

Another mechanism to prevent nozzle clogging may be to provide the printer 1 with a spittoon 33. Spittoon 33 allows the nozzles to spit onto spit surface 330, which can absorb waste ink. In one example, the spitting surface is a bubble collection spittoon, which is passive and possibly replaceable by the user after a certain amount of ink has been deposited. In another example, the spitting surface includes a suction, filtration, or collection system, such as by a system capable of collecting waste ink into an off-line container. In an example embodiment, the conveyor 3 includes a spittoon 33 attached thereto such that the conveyor 3 may be positioned along the media path direction (T) in a spitting position in which the nozzles eject printing fluid toward the spittoon 33.

In an example, the spittoon can be a page-wide spittoon, or in other words, have a structure such that it covers at least the printing zone (P)_w) The size of the width of (1). In another example, the spittoon can be along the print zone (P) in a scanning movement_w) The scanning chamber of (a). In any case, the spittoon can preferably be attached to the bracket 3, or to the base 31 or the tray 32.

The printer 1 may also house a drop detector for detecting nozzle health along the print bar 20, which shuts down the cycle by determining whether a cleaning operation (such as a spitting maintenance operation) needs to be performed on the spittoon. This allows for custom maintenance strategies when the drop detector determines that service is required.

The printer 1 may be provided with a maintenance carriage that moves along the print bar axis, on which the print head rests, characterized by a user-consumable cloth cleaning mechanism (also known in the art as a scraper) capable of performing 500 full-span operations before replacement, which may also include a spittoon and/or drop detector. In an example, the maintenance carriage may be attached to the conveyor 3.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the printer 1 of fig. 1. Figure 2 shows another view of a conveyor comprising a base 31 and a tray 30 which slides along the length of the base, thus moving the garment between a position remote from the printing zone and the printing zone, for example between the loading zone and the printing zone or between the printing zone and the post-processing zone.

Fig. 3 shows an example in which the printer includes a loading area 100, a printing area 101, and two post-processing areas: a processing area 102 and an unloading area 103.

The loading zone may comprise an area in which an operator or another device places garments on the conveyor 3, in particular on the conveyor tray 31, and the conveyor 3 for example byClamping and/or vacuum, etc. to secure the garment. Subsequently, the conveyor 3 moves the garment in the media path direction (T) from the loading zone 100 to the printing zone 101 and moves the garment along the printing zone 101 at a substantially constant speed while the print engine 2 deposits printing fluid onto the garment to form an image. As described above, print engine 2 includes a print bar 20 that spans the entire print zone 101, the print bar 20 being oriented at least with respect to a width (P) parallel to the print zone_w) Is stationary when printed on the garment.

In addition, the conveyor may move the garment toward a post-treatment zone, which may be treatment zone 102, where a post-treatment fluid may be applied to the garment (e.g., fixer, topcoat, etc.). Additionally, the treatment zone may be a drying/curing zone, wherein the garment may be treated by applying heat through an impingement device, or the garment may be treated by a light emitting source to produce drying/curing of the printing fluid.

Furthermore, in the example of fig. 3, the printer 1 comprises an unloading zone, in which the conveyor can convey the garments in order to unload them from the printer 1 and complete the printing process or can feed them to a subsequent device for collating and/or storage.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a printing method using a direct garment injection printer according to the present disclosure.

The method of claim 4 including loading the garment 401. The garment may be loaded in a loading area of the printer, for example, by a user or by automated means. Loading may also include securing the garment to the conveyor, for example, by clamping the garment to a tray or any suitable portion of the conveyor.

The method then includes moving the garment toward the print zone 402. Then, as the print engine ejects the printing fluid toward the garment, the garment is printed 403 by the print engine. In one example, the conveyor accelerates as it moves toward the print zone and moves at a substantially constant speed as the garment is printed.

Once the garment is printed, for example, once the entire garment has passed through the printing zone, the garment may be returned to the printing zone 404 by a conveyor in order to unload the garment and load a new garment and perform a new printing operation.

Additionally, in an embodiment, the printer may be configured to perform several passes in a printing operation. This can be achieved by passing the garment through the printing zone several times. For example, a first pass may be printed when the garment is moved in a direction from the loading area toward the printing area, and a second pass may be performed in a second direction opposite the first direction when the garment is moved back toward the loading area.

Fig. 5 illustrates another method according to the present disclosure. In the example of fig. 5, a user may load a garment 501 while the conveyor is in the loading zone. Subsequently, as in the case of the method of fig. 4, the conveyor may move the garment to the print zone 502, and then the garment may be printed 503 by the print engine. In the method of fig. 5, once the garment is printed, the garment may be moved to a post-processing zone 504. In the post-treatment zone, the garment may be treated to obtain a finished garment. Examples of such treatments may be the application of other types of non-marking fluids to protect the printing fluid (e.g., applying an overcoat), heating by an impact mechanism, heating by a light (e.g., a narrow band LED, UV LED, infrared lamp, etc.), or even unloading the material.

In the above examples, the printer may be provided with a controller, and the controller may be coupled to the conveyor and the print engine to control their operation. The controller may be a combination of circuitry and executable instructions representing a control program to perform the operations described above.

Further, some examples of the controller may be provided in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing resource of a computing device to perform the methods described herein.

The foregoing description has been presented for purposes of illustrating and describing particular examples. Examples of different groups have been described; these may be used alone or in combination, sometimes with synergistic effects. These descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit these principles to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is to be understood that any feature described in association with any example may be used alone, or in combination with other features described, and may also be used in combination with any other example's features, or any combination of any other example.

Claims

1. A direct garment injection printer comprising:

a printing area;

a loading zone; and

a conveyor for receiving garments and moving the garments bi-directionally in a transport direction between the printing zone and the loading zone;

wherein the printer further comprises a print bar located in the print zone, the print bar extending longitudinally along a width of the print zone and having a plurality of nozzles spanning the width of the print zone.

2. The printer of claim 1, wherein the conveyor comprises a printing surface and a spittoon surface remote from the printing surface.

3. The printer of claim 2, wherein the glenoid surface is movable along the width of the print zone.

4. The printer of claim 2, wherein the glenoid surface extends along the width of the print zone.

5. The printer of claim 1, wherein the print bar is movable an indexing distance along the width of the print zone.

6. The printer of claim 5, wherein the indexing distance is up to 8mm or up to 13 mm.

7. The printer of claim 1, further comprising a post-processing zone adjacent to the printing zone and opposite the loading zone, the conveyor moving the garment between the printing zone and the post-processing zone.

8. The printer of claim 7, wherein the post-processing zone comprises: dye sublimator, heater, dryer, curing device, unloading station and/or overcoat applicator.

9. The printer of claim 1, wherein the printer comprises a second print bar coupleable to the print bar to provide a second print zone and a second conveyor associated with the second print bar to provide a second loading zone.

10. A direct garment injection printing method in a printer, the printer comprising:

a page-wide nozzle array defining a width of the print zone;

a conveyor to move the garment bi-directionally in a direction perpendicular to the width of the print zone;

a controller that controls the page-wide nozzle array and the conveyor; and is

The controller moves the garment between a loading zone and the printing zone and ejects printing fluid on the garment as the garment moves along the printing zone while maintaining the nozzles in a stationary position.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the controller performs an indexing action by moving the nozzles in a direction parallel to the width of the print zone when the garment is outside the print zone.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the printing zone comprises a post-processing zone adjacent to the printing zone and opposite the loading zone, and wherein the controller is used to move garments from the loading zone to the printing zone and from the printing zone to the post-processing zone.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the post-treatment zone comprises a dye sublimator, a heater, a dryer, a curing device, an unloading station, and/or an overcoat applicator.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the printer includes a spittoon associated with the conveyor, and wherein the controller is to move the conveyor to position the spittoon beneath the page-wide nozzle array to perform a maintenance operation.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a controller, the medium storing instructions for controlling a page wide array printer comprising a set of nozzles and a conveyor defining a width of a print zone, wherein the controller is to move a garment between a loading zone and the print zone and to eject printing fluid onto the garment as the garment moves along the print zone while maintaining the nozzles in a stationary position.